The invention concerns a beverage can with a press-in section in the top.
Today, drinks for refreshment are marketed not only in glass bottles or plastic containers, but also in cans. Cans are made from tinplate or, most recently, aluminum and are predominately furnished with a press-in top closure section. This section, when pressed in, breaks away a drinking opening in the top for access to the beverage. In particular, in the case of carbon dioxide containing drinks, the corresponding beverage cans must be quickly emptied, since, otherwise, too much carbonic acid is lost through the said drinking opening, which, as a rule, can cannot be closed again.
In DE 39 31 573 C2, a proposal has already been made, of reclosing the drinking opening after the opening of the can. This is done by means of a stopperlike closure element, which is attached to the press-in top flap. Such closure elements have not succeeded in being accepted.
Generally, it is not necessary, after the opening of the can, to achieve a complete reclosure, but it usually suffices to cover the said drinking opening in such a sievelike manner, that no danger exists that insects, wasps, or the like, can enter in to the unseen interior of the can. In particular, the entry of wasps in the summer months is seen as particularly dangerous, since these, upon the next swallow, can find their way into the throat area of the drinker and by stinging can call forth serious damage to the health.
DE 40 38 329 discloses a beverage can with a top with a tear-open closure. In this case, on the underside of the can top, a sievelike flap for the drinking opening is provided, which is permeable for liquids, but a barrier for solid particulate. Upon the opening of the can, the top closure, which formed the drinking opening, presses a sieve linkage which is located underneath the top. This pressing, must be so far downward, that the depressed top closure releases the sievelike flap.
Subsequently, by a resetting force in the linkage, the sieve swings upward, and covers the drinking opening from below. Experience shows however, that with this type of a combination-flap of a drinking opening, the top closure in any case, must be pressed down to an extreme extent, to release the sieve, which is located underneath the top. Otherwise, the function of the sieve will not be carried out.
A similar design is made known by DE 40 22 408 A1, which shows the same disadvantage.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,412, a can, especially a beverage can, is described. This can has a top with a press-in top closure, in which the drinking opening, created by the opening of the can, is protected in a sievelike manner with a removable sievelike cover element. By lifting a gripping-lug of the top closure, which is fastened by means of a rivet onto the top of the can, the broken away top closure, which creates the drinking opening, is pressed into the interior of the can. In doing this, the gripping-lug is lifted to such an extent, that it stands at a right angle to the top of the can. The said removable sievelike cover is provided with a slit in a semicircular cutout, besides having a sievelike perforation. The removable, slitted cover, after the opening, is pressed to swing downward by the gripping-lug, which now stands perpendicular to the can top. The semicircular cutout, by this action, is aligned around a rivet, which fastens the top closure to the top of the can and the sievelike cover comes to lie over the drinking opening. Because of the resulting alignment about the rivet, the removable sievelike cover is fixed in its position.
This design demands that the removable sievelike cover must be delivered as a separate component, for which a special packing is required. The positioning of the removable sievelike cover on the beverage can must be carried out with great precision and appears as a somewhat intricate maneuver. Nevertheless, caution must be taken from a hygienic standpoint, upon the reuse of the said removable sievelike cover. Insofar as an intermediate cleansing has not been carried out, hygienics are a priority, since contamination and bacteria or other parasites accumulate on the surface of the removable sievelike cover and upon drinking the beverage, such impurities can find their way into the body of the person drinking.
WO 93/08087 discloses a beverage can, which has a tear-open top closure, which, by means of a lever for pulling off or pushing down, a drinking-opening can be formed. On the top of the beverage can, besides the said closure and an opening lug, a further screened cover is provided.
The said screened cover is pivotally fastened with a rivet on the top of the beverage can and, following the opening of the can, the said screened cover can be brought to overlay the drinking opening by rotation. In this way, a reliable barrier is made to exclude entry into the can by insects or small objects.
The screened cover can be placed on the upper side of the top of the can, or, alternatively, on the underside thereof. In this latter case, a four sided rivet is employed, so that the screened cover, upon the rotation of rivet, is itself rotated. To facilitate such rotation, the top closure is fastened to the rive.
In another embodiment, the top closure possesses a screen section, which can be employed for the covering of the drinking opening, so that an additional cover element can be eliminated. In this case, the top closure with the screen section can likewise be rotated to protect the created opening of the beverage can with the screened cover.
However, it is a disadvantage, that it has to be necessary, after the opening of the beverage can, that first a screen section of a closure element must be brought over the drinking opening by a twisting motion, in order that the said opening can be closed to the entry of insects. In this design, the danger exists, that especially children will neglect to close the drinking opening against insects, so that, in spite of all efforts to the contrary, insects can migrate into the interior of the can.
Thus, the purpose of the invention is, to offer a beverage can with a one-piece, press-in closure, and do so a with cost-effective and simple manufacture thereof, a high degree of functional security, ease of manipulation, assured hygiene, and wherein no additional costs for packaging labor and packing materials are called for
This purpose is achieved by the invention described in claim 1. Advantageous improvements of the invention are to be found in the subordinate claims.
The invention concerns a beverage can with a press-in top closure, wherein a top section is defined within a separating line, and at least one partial area of said section forms a drinking opening in the top of the can, by means of the downward lever action of an end piece of a gripping lug secured to said top by means of a rivet. This opening is covered by means of an external sievelike cap. The actuation end of the gripping lug, when operated, penetratively inserts itself in a cutout of the sievelike cap. It is accord with the invention, that this sievelike cap, the size of which essentially corresponds to the area inside the above mentioned peripheral separation line, has, in the unopened state of the can, its own bordering rim which follows the course of the said surrounding peripheral indentation. Further the said cap is fastened to the top of the can by a rivet connection.
Different than in the state of the technology, in the case of this design of an sievelike cap of the drinking opening of a beverage can, no motion of said sievelike cap occurs, so that this remains stationary in its position and remains functionable, independent of the activation of the gripping lug.
For increasing of the stability of the sievelike cap, this possesses a raised rim, which, in the unopened state of the can, lies contiguous to the separation line of the can top, so that, especially when the separation line is found in the recessed top, no additional projecting elements appear in the top area of the can.
Advantageously, the sievelike cap is made of the same material as the can or the gripping lug. It can, however, if it is fabricated as a separate part, also be made of plastic. The sievelike cap can, for instance, be made as part of the gripping lug in one work step and can be fastened onto the can top.
Since, in the case of commercially conventional gripping lugs for beverage cans, the gripping lug is fastened to the can by means of a fastening fixture which also is riveted to the can, provision may be advantageously made to make the sievelike cap out of an extension of the fastening fixture.
This can be accomplished, in that after the stamping of an appropriately shaped gripping lug, such a back bend is made at the fastening fixture, that, relative to the rivet connection, the fastening fixture is aligned to one side while the sievelike cap, likewise in relation to the rivet connection, is aligned toward the oppositely situated drinking opening side.
For reasons of fabrication, it may be preferred, that the sievelike cap, by means of lateral bending linkages, be constructed in one-piece with the gripping lug in the area of its rivet connection and be fastened to the can top at that point.
The invention effectively prevents the entrance of insects into the opened can, while the fabrication is neither complicated nor cost intensive.